Sunday, 26 January 2014

From last week's Tablet, about one of the new Cardinal-designates, Fernando Sebastián Aguilar, former Archbishop of Pamplona, lauded by the writer as a theologian:

Notably, he is a firm believer in the validity of the post-Vatican II liturgical reforms. He recently told his confrère and respected Rome-based liturgist Fr Matias Augé that he recites Eucharistic Prayer II by heart at all his Masses. When the priest pointed out that traditionalists believe EPII does "not adequately express the sacrificial dimension of the Eucharist", the cardinal-designate replied: "Don't worry, anyone who says this doesn't understand a thing about the sacrificial dimension of the Mass".

Robert Mickens, Letter from Rome, The Tablet, 18th January 2014

Words fail me. And if they cease to fail me, I think that probably I would never stop writing. Is this really the ultimate boast of a Vatican II theologian, that he uses nothing but EPII, even though most of the Latin world does likewise? And as for the rest…

p.s. I gather he's earned the hatred of the liberals for some rather unconsidered remarks about homosexuality. I found this when I looked for the picture I've posted above.

3 comments:

I've never liked EPII. Yes, it's valid, but it has no richness to it. It's weak by comparison to EPI. They should NEVER have given options other than EPI in my opinion. And they should not have messed with the prayers of the offertory. The NO offertory prayers are very lame in my opinion compared to the Latin Mass.

I've never liked EPII. Yes, it's valid, but it has no richness to it. It's weak by comparison to EPI. They should NEVER have given options other than EPI in my opinion. And they should not have messed with the prayers of the offertory. The NO offertory prayers are very lame in my opinion compared to the Latin Mass.

As I recall, the instructions to the newly revised Missale Romanum included the statement that Prex Eucharistica II was to be used only for weekday masses.

I am currently set at the task of reading (in many cases, re-reading) the writings of the last three popes, starting with those of Beatus Ioannes Paulus II Magnus, and beginning with his late Holiness' beautiful letter, Domenicae Cenae, on Eucharistic devotion.

I note in that letter His Holiness' repeated call for priests to serve the Divine Liturgy with reverence, and without an unworthy haste.

While I am supposed to hold all Orthodox and Catholic bishops in high and equal regard because of their apostolic charism, I sometimes wonder as to the extent that said bishops are in union with such teachings as the above, let alone such, ahem, minor matters as Sacred Scripture, Holy Tradition, or the Catholic Teachings of the Church.

In short, I wonder whether the Bishop, in choosing only Eucharistic Prayer II for his Liturgies, is doing so, not because of its alleged spirituality, but because it is the shortest of the lot.